On Saturday afternoon, October 8, Governor Brown signed AB 438 (Williams), the controversial library outsourcing measure CLA has been closely monitoring all year. There was no signing message issued.

The bill, in its final version, would “impose requirements on a city or library district that intends to withdraw from a county free library system and operate libraries with a private contractor.”

AB 438, as you may recall, is sponsored by the Ventura Reader’s Book Group and was supported by a number of major employee union organizations, including SEIU, California Labor Federation, California Teachers Association, as well as several Friends of the Library groups. It was opposed by the League of Cities, Chamber of Commerce, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, LSSI, and numerous individual cities. During debate on the bill, the supporters argued for the protection of jobs and for more public input on the decision to outsource, while the opposition argued that the “practical effect of the bill was to ban cities from contracting out services, which likely means staff layoffs and branch closures.”

The Governor also signed SB 602 by Senator Leland Yee that would provide necessary privacy protections for those using a commercial eBook provider. The bill was sponsored by the ACLU and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. (CLA position: "Support") The Governor has also signed AB 597 by Assemblyman Mike Eng which creates a financial literacy fund within the State Controller's Office and allows the Controller to accept private donations. The Controller may also form an advisory committee of members who would be charged with overseeing the administration of the fund, and who could make suggestions regarding the best ways to educate the public regarding financial literacy. (CLA position: "Support")

The Governor has now acted on all of the legislation sent to him in the 2011 Regular Session. All of the non-urgency bills signed by the Governor, including AB 438, go in to effect January 1, 2012.